- I love this poem. Hat-tip to Mary-Kim Arnold for flagging it.- The Boy and The Girl had an Ice Cream Social at their school last night. The cafeteria became a sundae bar, and the kids moved back and forth between that and the gym, where a dj played music and the girls danced. Anyone who wants to study gender in action should attend an elementary school ice cream social. The Moms are connected, buzzing with activity and emotion. The Dads drift, gamely but aimlessly, like cordial pinballs.

Shared governance has many definitions, and the boundaries can be fuzzy. But most academics have a pretty clear idea that in the academic context, part of shared governance involves faculty control over curriculum. Administrators are well-advised to tread as lightly as possible in curriculum, ideally functioning mostly as traffic cops. Make sure the process is followed and the course descriptions in the printed catalog match the ones online -- which sounds simple but isn’t -- and otherwise don’t mess with it.

I file this one under “instant classic.” A new correspondent writes:[I]f you are asked "how has your teaching changed over the years" or "how has your management of people changed over the years" or "how has your interaction with clients changed over the years" the wrong answer is "it hasn't."The best professionals are continually evaluating their performance and making tweaks to improve - no improvement = no evaluation of past performance in my book.

From the “just when you think it couldn’t get more ridiculous” files...The leadership of the Republican party in Wisconsin has filed a Freedom of Information request to read all of the emails from the account of Professor William Cronon, a well-known historian and union activist at the University of Wisconsin. They’ve specifically asked for emails containing terms that would suggest relevance to union and/or political activity.

The Girl was terribly upset last night. I asked her why.TG: The entire first grade had to miss recess!DD: Why?TG: Because some girls were forming clubs to keep other girls out.DD: Did you?TG: Daddy, no! That would be mean!DD: That’s true.TG: So how come I got punished, too? How come they punish the good kids too?Honestly, I’ve wondered the same thing. Here’s how I answered it in the moment.

This piece in the New York Times -- motto: No Paywall ‘til Monday! -- and this post by Tenured Radical got me thinking about office phones. The Times piece suggests that voice calls are going extinct, and TR suggests sacrificing office phones as a budget cut that wouldn’t really hurt, since they’re mostly vestigial anyway.Do you use your office phone?

A new correspondent whose wife, a teacher, is about to become a stay-at-home Mom writes:I have queried the Internet, and there really is no good, definitive advice article on the topic of "how to maintain a healthy marriage when transitioning from a dual income home to a single income". We are aware that having a stay-at-home-mother will ease a lot of stress and make life easier, but life assures us that every situation will have its obstacles. I am very curious on what your obstacles were, as well as your wife's.